We had an opportunity to interview Craig Newmark and get some insight about how Craigslist works with the community, the key takeaway was that “people (Craigslist users) are trustworthy.”

Craig gave his three-part strategy for the success of Craigslist:

Technology: We have open source, lots of servers and keep it simple

Corporate: We keep the structure as small as possible so that management doesn’t lose touch

Community: We give lots of power over our site to the commmunity, we trust them and allow them to police the service

He strongly disagreed with the assertion by some start-up entrepreneurs that the PR profession and professionals are unneeded in start-up and technology organizations, but he cautioned that it was a new world and communication professionals need to keep up to speed with the expectations.

On the personal side, he revealed that he most often works from a home office and that he became interested in the social network Twitter when he shared a room in Galilee with Robert Scoble. About that he would only say, “What happens in Galilee stays in Galilee.”

Kami Watson Huyse, APR, principle of My PR Pro, is a sought-after speaker and writes an award-winning blog, Communication Overtones, on the topic of public relations and social media strategy. In this half-day pre-conference seminar, Kami follows the three-step process to demonstrate how social media tactics may be included in the overall communications strategy.

For coverage on the PRSA 2008 International Conference: The Point of Connection, visit www.prsa.org/conf2008.